Artificial heart is a machine that pumps blood and is designed to replace a natural heart. The first use of an artificial heart in a human being occurred in 1969. That year, a team of surgeons headed by Denton A. Cooley of the Texas Heart Institute used a device to temporarily support blood circulation in a patient awaiting a heart transplant. The patient was kept alive for 64 hours until a natural heart transplant was performed.
Scientists have since worked to develop an artificial heart that can permanently replace a diseased human heart. In 1982, a surgical team led by William C. DeVries of the University of Utah implanted an air-powered device as the first permanent artificial heart. The device, called the Jarvik-7, was designed by the American physician Robert K. Jarvik. The recipient, Barney B. Clark, survived for 112 days. Several other patients also received Jarvik hearts, and one survived for 620 days.
The Jarvik-7 had several features that limited the quality of life for patients. The device had a large, heavy, external power unit that hindered movement and air tubes that passed through the skin of the patient. Complications from the device, including bleeding and stroke in some patients, forced physicians to abandon it as a possible long-term heart replacement. But it is still used today for sustaining patients temporarily until a natural heart transplant can be performed.
In the 1990’s, teams of scientists in the United States developed the AbioCor artificial heart. This device is made up of an electric pump implanted within the patient. Power is supplied to the device through an internal transcutaneous energy transmission (TET) coil. Energy passes from an external TET coil, which is attached to a small battery pack, through the skin to the internal TET coil. The two coils are not connected to each other by any wires that penetrate the skin, thereby reducing the risk of infection. With the AbioCor heart, patients can participate in most activities of daily living without being connected to a large power supply.
In July 2001, Robert Tools became the first patient to be implanted with the AbioCor artificial heart. He died 151 days later from complications unrelated to the function of the heart. Since then, other patients have had the AbioCor implanted. Several were able to make short trips from the hospital, and two patients lived outside the hospital for a time. The longest a patient has survived with the AbioCor artificial heart is 512 days.
In 2013, doctors in France implanted a new type of artificial heart in a patient suffering heart failure. The patient lived for 74 days. The device, made by the French company Carmat, includes a combination of artificial materials and tissues obtained from cattle, which help to prevent blood clots and other medical complications. In 2014, doctors implanted a Carmat heart in another patient. This patient became healthy enough to leave the hospital and resume a normal lifestyle.
See also Heart (The first heart transplants and artificial hearts).
